November 2011

The charter school movement is dependent upon the hard work of visionary founders, leaders, and authorizers, plus dedicated teachers and volunteers and inspired students. The Association is proud to recognize several of them this month.

CCSA’s Conference Team cordially invites you to increase your business or organization’s visibility in the charter community as a sponsors or exhibitor at the 19th Annual California Charter Schools Conference, which will take place February 27 through March 1, 2012, in Sacramento.

Thanks to the work of a coalition of hard-working, flexible partners, two Green Dot public charter schools in Los Angeles, Ralph Bunche High School and Jefferson Middle School, now own previously-leased facilities that will serve in excess of 1,000 students.

Earlier this month, parents from across the state gathered in Los Angeles for Camp Educate, a three-day training retreat led by Educate Our State, a parent-lead group which advocates for high-quality public education in California. Several dozen charter parents attended the event.

California charter public schools grew significantly this 2011-12 school year, opening at high numbers statewide, and serving more students and families in both urban and rural areas, according to data released by CCSA today.

Despite incredible budget challenges, 100 new charter schools opened their doors across the state in 2011-12, while enrollment surged by more than 13%, from 365364,000 024 students in 2010-11 to over 412,000 students. This growth brings the total number of charters in California to 982—the largest of any state in the nation.

We are encouraged to see in a recent poll by USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times that California voters have a favorable opinion of charter schools. However, we were concerned by the misleading way some of the poll questions were phrased.

Today Aspire Public Schools submitted its application to operate a new school in South Los Angeles under Public School Choice (PSC), the Los Angeles Unified School District’s unprecedented initiative to reform the operation of new schools and turn around the lowest performing schools in the district.

More than 150 charter schools across the state submitted requests for facilities to their districts under Proposition 39 last year and many did so again this year by the Nov. 1 deadline. They won’t receive final offers of space until April, but Families That Can has already started working with several schools to harness one of their most powerful resources - their parents.

In recent years, we have seen an increase in activity in charter schools in the Central Valley, especially schools founded by family farm-based organizations and foundations connected to these organizations. In addition to serving students well, these schools have become actively engaged in the broader movement, to the benefit of charter schools in the Central Valley and beyond.

In 2009, the Los Angeles Unified School District board passed Public School Choice (PSC), an unprecedented initiative to reform the operation of new schools and turn around the lowest performing schools, known as focus schools, in the district. Charter schools have been active participants in this reform.

Ana Ponce, founder of Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles and a member of CCSA’s board of directors, was one of just seven educators recently featured in Forbes magazine on a list of “Most Powerful Educators.”